In efforts to help their children and their schools succeed in the next academic year, millions of parents around the world are already involved in school foundations or PTA's to support teachers and administrators with their critical work of educating a fresh set of young minds.

Their role is truly thankless. They have to herd the volunteers together, field any number of complaints, attend meetings, and gently let down every wide-eyed volunteer with a plan to raise money this way or spend it another, when their idea clashes with the reality of the calendar, or the budget, or the rules around the use school facilities.

I can't even begin to count all the parents I spoke to over the years who were convinced that the special education staff at their school hated their child. The parents would ask for something that they believed their child desperately needed, but the staff would refuse to do it, or fail to do it.

I'm dreading The Volunteer Season because of the parents who make volunteering hard. The parents who judge, eye roll, and hrmmph their way through school activities because they are fairly certain they are God's gift to the Land of Volunteer.

Teacher-bashing has become a commonplace and even an acceptable practice among parents of school-going children. Somewhere along the way, parents and teachers went from being on the same team -- respected caregivers and educators of children -- to enemies at war.

My non-consumerism relies heavily on the community I live in. If I were in more of a low income area, my food shopping options would likely be limited, and our safety would not be a given. I have opportunities that many other Americans do not.